Tristan Thompson switches shooting hands?????

“I think it’s the first time ever in NBA history,” Thompson said of the change, and he may be right.
…
He’s naturally almost perfectly “multi-handed” if not purely ambidextrous. He grew up shooting with his left-hand and driving the ball predominantly to his left, but he throws a baseball with his right hand. He writes left-handed but brushes his teeth with his right-hand. “I’m all messed up,” Thompson joked. “I’m still trying to figure myself out.”
…
“I was in Phoenix (last November) and I just started shooting right-handed and got a lot of compliments on it,” Thompson said this week while in training camp with the Canadian national team. “A week later when we got back to Cleveland and got one of the ball-boys to record me and I shot 100 jumpers with my left and 100 with my right and it was significantly better with my right-hand. There was just a better flow to it with my right, it looked smoother.”

It has looked brutal so far. Canadian guy here watching Team Canada vs Jamaica the past couple days. It doesnt matter if he shot 100 better with his right. That is an incredibly small sample size. Its just outrageous to me for a guy to do this. Hopefully it works out for him.

A stronger right hand will certainly help, but it's one thing to practice jumpers in the gym and another during the season when every shot matters (especially for a team that's chasing the playoffs). It would be a great story though and may persuade other players down the road to do the same, such as Andre Drummond or any other future big man who has serious trouble with free throws, for example.

I remember reading about Jermaine O'Neal switching hands after he broke his dominant one as a kid, but I've never heard of anyone doing this long into their playing days. Curious to see if his shooting improves now.

However, was at the Canada vs. Jamaica game and noticed that it was really not that bad. For a 58.6% FT shooter, he went 4-4, shot 6-11 FG finishing with 16 pts for the day. Player of the game for Canada. Believe, as someone who plays basketball (have played a lot, though not at the highest level, though think most will agree with this sentiment) muscle memory is incredibly important.

One wants to be adept at using either hand, yet it is definitely key to have a strong hand you are confident shooting with outside of 10-12 feet. That is where Trsitan's decision confused me. However, it seemed to work. I do not care how one shoots FT's, if you can find a way to make them at a higher rate than previous, do it. If Tristan ups his FT%, than that is good in my book.

However, did notice that on his shots outside of 15 feet, it definitely looked strange and was not effective. His making these types of shots are crucial to his offensive ceiling and productivity. Was talking to someone who had a great line, saying, "the moral of the story is, have 6'9 kids". Bottom line, Tristan is athletic enough and gets enough shots close enough to the basket to make this possible. Would not suggest doing this unless you felt your shot was absolutely broken with your once thought strong hand.